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Tennis gains first
victory
...page 6
Black History month
is recognized at
WSU
<WF
AT A GLANCE 2
EDITORIAL 3
FEATURES 4
SPORTS 6
CLASSIFIEDS 11
Weber Reads slave narratives
Frederick Douglass memorialized by
staff and students at Weber State
By Thomas Alberts
sr. news reporter I The Signpost
Weber State University faculty and students recently
revisited a darker part of American history by exploring
the 200-year-old narratives of Frederick Douglass.
As part of the series for Weber Reads, students and
faculty gathered in the Hetzel-Hoellein room in the
Stewart Library for a discussion on slave narratives.
Professor Thorn Kuehls of the Political Science and
Philosophy Department gave a lecture on the infamous
Dred Scott vs. Sandford Supreme Court case of 1857. The
discussion focused first on the biography of Dred Scott,
a slave born in Virginia who moved with his owner to the
free state of Illinois and the free territory of Wisconsin.
Later, Scott would sue the federal government for the
freedom of himself, his wife, and his two daughters.
The Supreme Court of the United States would
eventually rule against Scott in February of 1857 in a
7-to-2 decision. The opinion most cited by historians
was written by Chief justice Roger Taney, who said that
the original intent of the Founding Fathers when writing
the Constitution was that federal citizenship could only
be extended to white persons, justice Benjamin Curtis
See Reads page 5
PHOTO BY NATHAN CAULFORD
Weber State University professor Thorn Kuehls of the Political Science and Philosophy Department gives
ions on the Dred Scott case and Frederick Douglass on Tuesday afternoon.
I THE SIGNPOST
his opin-
//
Let's Talk" stereotypes
Diversity- sponsored
"Cultural
Competence For
AH" addresses
the issue of
stereotyping
By Vicky Akpan
correspondent I The Signpost
The Weber State
University Center for
Diversity & Unity, located
in the Shepherd Union
Building, hosted its weekly
"Let's Talk" workshop on
Friday, Feb. 4. This week's
topic was entitled "In Other
Words," and focused on
how different stereotypes
and sweeping statements
can unconsciously alter
behavior and attitudes.
The main question of the
workshop was whether
hearing something
immediately alters a
person's behaviors,
feelings, actions and
thoughts.
To test this assumption,
layson Stokes, the assistant
director for the Center for
Diversity & Unity, handed
out a "pre-association"
activity designed to help
build cultural competence.
Focused primarily on
specific stereotypes, this
activity listed different
identities for the
participants to choose
from.
"To complete this
exercise," Stokes said, "you're
going to go down the list and,
without thinking too much
about any specific identity,
write down the first thing
that comes to mind when
you look at the word."
After reviewing the
completed exercise, both
the negative and positive
effects of stereotyping were
obvious. Some words on the
list had a somewhat implicit
stereotype of being "boring"
or "difficult."
"Sometimes we modulate
our behaviors based on our
biases, whether we know
we are being biased or not,"
Stokes said. "Despite our
stereotypes being negative
or positive, it can lead to
inaccuracies about people
that may be inherently
negative."
This was seemingly
proven when the discussion
turned to stereotypes of
people from Asia, Africa,
India, the suburbs and
the South. For example,
the typical stereotype for
people from Asia was that
they were all good at math.
However, despite this not
being a necessarily negative
stereotype, it takes away
from individual identities
because human beings
assign characteristics to
a whole group of people
to help compartmentalize
the enormous amount of
information the human brain
processes on a daily basis.
Despite the negative and
positive aspects of inherent
stereotyping, it is a natural
thing that human beings do.
"As people we rely
on characteristics and
groupings because it helps us
interpret our surroundings
See Stereo page 5
Students
to learn
leadership
skills
Students are welcomed
for strengths training
By Michael Diamond
correspondent I The Signpost
The Winter Academy of Leadership
this Thursday and Friday is planned
to kick-start Weber State University
students into campus-wide
involvement. The annual leadership
seminar is open to all students and uses
one of the most successful personal
development programs in the nation.
The seminar will be held at the Hurst
Center on Thursday and Friday from
4-9 p.m. each day. It includes catered
snacks and dinner in between hands-
on workshops.
The nationally known Gallup
Corporation created a 30-minute
questionnaire for students, educators
and
"Strengths-
Quest is the
fastest way to
improve your
skills and gain
success..."
— Kyle
Braithwaite,
Student
Leadership VP
professionals
in any career
that shows a
person's top
five strengths.
The program,
called
Strengths-
Quest, is
currently used
in almost 600
campuses, and
nearly 850,000
students have
used it in their
See WAOL page 5